Justice 2 Committee, 13 Jun 2006
Meeting date: Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Official Report
175KB pdf
Subordinate Legislation
International Criminal Court (Immunities and Privileges) (No 2) Order 2006 (draft)<br />International Criminal Court (Immunities and Privileges) (No 1) Order 2006 (draft)
I welcome the Minister for Justice to the committee. We have two affirmative instruments to consider. I invite the minister to speak to both draft orders before committee members ask questions. After that, we will follow the usual procedures for formal motions and debates.
I shall take a few minutes to explain what the draft orders are about and why they are necessary to enable the United Kingdom to meet its obligation to confer certain privileges and immunities on the International Criminal Court and on specified categories of individuals connected with the court.
As members will be aware, the obligations are contained in the Rome statute, which is the international treaty that established the ICC, and in a separate agreement on privileges and immunities, which was finalised in September 2002 and which has been signed by the UK. The central purpose of the agreement is to seek to ensure that the staff of the International Criminal Court can carry out their duties, which will often be in connection with difficult situations, without undue external influence and in the wider interests of justice.
The precise details of the privileges and immunities that it is proposed will be conferred, and on whom they will be conferred, are set out in detail in the draft orders. However, it is perhaps most relevant to highlight in the context of the ICC the immunity from arrest and detention, the immunity from legal process and the inviolability of papers and documents.
People might consider it unlikely that the ICC will have occasion to sit in the United Kingdom or, in particular, in Scotland. However, the international obligations that the draft orders implement create a pattern of protections that give the court and the individuals connected with it, such as witnesses and victims, a comprehensive structure of protection across jurisdictions without making discriminatory distinctions or judgments about where such protections might be considered necessary. There is a parallel with the diplomatic immunities that are granted by host states throughout the world in their mutual interest.
The convener noted that the committee has been asked to consider two draft orders today. Two orders are required because of the restrictions with the legal base that became apparent when the first order went through Westminster. That is a consequence of the nature of the 2002 privileges and immunities agreement, which goes into considerable prescriptive detail. That could not have been foreseen, of course, when the enabling legislation—the International Criminal Court Act 2001—was passed. The gap was subsequently fixed by the International Organisations Act 2005, to which the Scottish Parliament gave legislative consent under the Sewel procedure in February of that year, following which a second order was drawn up to complete the picture.
The draft orders are lengthy and technical, but in considering them today it is helpful briefly to remind ourselves of the wider reasons why they are needed, beyond the fact that they are simply to do with an international obligation that we are required to meet. The ICC, which was inaugurated in March 2003, is the world's first permanent court with the power to try serious crimes of international concern, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Unfortunately, history has shown that such a court is needed. It is now operational and it has begun investigations into events in northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur in Sudan.
The United Kingdom, including the Scottish Executive, is a strong supporter of the ICC. Although it is located in The Hague and therefore, as I mentioned, the practical impact of the draft orders is expected to be limited as far as we are concerned, giving our approval today will, in its own way, send out a signal of our continued support for and commitment to the ICC.
I thank you for the clarity and brevity of your comments. Members have no questions on the draft orders, and we have received no comments from the Subordinate Legislation Committee.
Motions moved,
That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft International Criminal Court (Immunities and Privileges) (No. 2) Order 2006 be approved.
That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft International Criminal Court (Immunities and Privileges) (No. 1) Order 2006 be approved.—[Cathy Jamieson.]
Motions agreed to.